redirect without destroying the session - Webmaster Forums - Webmaster forum for HTML, PHP, ASP, CSS and more

epochonaut · 01-10-2007, 08:28 AM

I've created a form that allows registered members of my site to update their public profiles (address, email, biography, personal interests, etc). The form's ACTION attribute is "updateProfile.php" which contains the code:

<?
session_start();
(database is opened, updated with the new information and closed)
?>

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Update Profile</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY>
<H1>Update Completed!</H1>
<A HREF="file_path">Return</A>
</BODY>
</HTML>

This works fine. The Return link takes me back to the form without destroying the session. But when I try automatically redirecting the page the session is destroyed and I have to log in again. I've used two methods of redirecting; the PHP approach:
<? header( 'Location: page_url' ); ?>

and the javascript approach:

window.onLoad = function() {
window.location="page_url";
}

How can I redirect without destroying the session? (and preferably without having to use cookies?)

alhefner · 01-11-2007, 01:04 PM

I use the header("Location: url") method of redirect often in my scripts and my session isn't lost.

Are you sure that the destination page is php with session_start() at the top of the script? If so, your session should stay intact. Session_start() doesn't always start a new session, if a session already exists for that user, it simply resumes the session.

Al

epochonaut · 01-11-2007, 07:12 PM

Yeah, I checked that over a few times. I found a work-around though. I created an empty form on the second page like this:

<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="previousPage.php"></FORM>

and used the onLoad event to call the forms submit() event. Unconventional but it works.